Does Each HP Product Line use a different Windows HAL?

[Vague Assumption]

If I build a custom image for a multiprocessor server, say a DL360, could I use it on a DL580?

If not, how many different kinds of HAL are there? One per product line?

[Kedd Guyton]

There are basically two modern HAL's:
ACPI APIC
ACPI PIC

There are two kernels:
MP
UP

ACPI PIC is UP only, but ACPI APIC uses either the MP or UP kernel depending on the number of CPU's and/or whether HyperThreading is enabled.

It will not be Microsoft supported to do as you suggest, but it is possible and far less time consuming if you do at least incorporate Sysprep.

Your note doesn't indicate which generations of DL360 or DL580, but let's assume that you mean something fairly modern, and with that in mind you're looking at an ACPI APIC HAL and an MP kernel.

[Kedd Guyton]

For clarification, the ProLiant's use the Microsoft HAL's, not OEM one like they did many years ago with WinNT 4.0.

[Vague Assumption]

I'm concerned with ad hoc (the boss walks down the hall and hands me, so to speak, a dl360 G5) generation of servers. I don't think I'll be asked to rev up any dl360 G2's, although there are a few around in our shop. Generally speaking, I approach serious servers, like the dl580 G4, as specialty projects. But it would be nice not to have to grovel when asked to pull a configured SQL Server 2005 out of my back pocket, either.

I've heard about some nice tools, bundled with Smart Start that can help speed things up. Something that creates an image server from which I can peel off copies?

[Kedd Guyton]

Nothing is as simple as the pre-sale docs show, but RIS and WDS (including Sysprep) are included as components of Windows Server 2003.

[Vague Assumption]

Well, that's what I'm talking about. But I've been stymied before with RIPrep images because I built the image on one server, but found I couldn't deploy it on another computer. In the wild managerie of desktops where I work, the various computers use firmware that requires maybe five or six different HAL types. Each manufacturer seems to have it's own type of BIOS and the setup Microsoft provides is able to select the right HAL needed by each. In an RIPrep image situation, you need to know in advance which type of HAL you'll be installing on because the RIS server won't let Windows detect it, as it will during a normal RIS, or manual setup. HP, it seems to me, would have a wide variety of BIOS types, one for each line of computers.

When you run Smart Start, they refer to am 'image server,' which, being from HP, I hope finesses the problem with the various HALs.

[Kedd Guyton]

I can think of no situation when a DL/ML G2 or later generation ProLiant wouldn't require an ACPI APIC HAL with typically an MP kernel.

The only other gotcha is that Microsoft doesn't support using Intel Sysprep images on AMD servers or vice versa. WDS will allow you do it, the image seems to work correctly on the server, but Microsoft won't support it for some reason.